THE MAZORETES AND THE NAME OF GOD

Presented Steve Marlowe, Evangelist

In the days before printing presses, everything had to be copied by the hand of scribes. The Hebrew language of the Old Testament was written without vowels, and essentially paleo-Hebrew only had one vowel (called qamets, which was with an ‘a’ sound). Therefore the Hebrews did not include their one vowel in the writing of Hebrew words in Holy Writ, the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament). This was not a problem as long as everyone was thoroughly familiar with the language, however, with the passage of time, influences from other cultures caused changes with the Hebrew vowel system among the Jews throughout the Greco-Roman world. This caused many Jews, who did not maintain a thorough familiarity with the original Hebrew, to use Hebrew with modifications influenced by their region or cultural area which was not necessarily recognized in other Jewish communities. Depending on where the Jews lived in the Roman Empire, many influences helped alter the Hebrew language, specifically their vowel system. This started as far back as 535 BC, as some Jews stayed in Babylon after the forced exile. Other Jews were being Hellenized—raised in the Greek language and culture from 330 BC, and these Jews were speaking Hebrew with variants. Some, of course, were in Palestine, but even there, Hebrew was not always spoken and the common Jews spoke Aramaic. It became incumbent upon the Masoretes scholars to create a uniformed vowel system. In fact, most Jews spoke Aramaic in the time of Christ, the first-century. But despite Aramaic being the common street language, which eventually became the language of the common Jews of Judea, Galilee, and other regions, Hebrew was spoken in the Temple and at synagogues, and in the homes of pious Jews everywhere. Scholars maintain that the revealed name of the Savior, the Messiah, by the angel Gabriel, was the Hebrew name of YAHSHUA. Somehow the Hebrew name of YAHSHUA became obscured, and it was the common Aramaic name of Yeshua that was used by the Greeks who then transliterated Yeshua to the Greek name of Iesous.

In the first century AD, there was an initial effort to standardize the text of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, taking into account all of the manuscripts and variants from across the Roman Empire. Once a reading was agreed upon, the variants were removed, and the scribes began their meticulous work to make exact copies. A group of scribes called the Tannaim produced extensive guidelines for producing accurate copies. Around AD 200, another group called the Amoraim (“expositors”) began preserving and explaining the text, producing the Talmud, which is considered to be an anti-Christian text in many respects. There were actually two groups of Talmudic scholars, one centered in Babylon and another in Palestine, and their respective work produced the Babylonian Talmud and the Palestinian Talmud. The Talmud is largely of the traditions of men connected to the long-standing traditions of the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees of YAHSHUA’S time, since the first century AD.

The Masoretes were the final group of scribes who came together to help preserve the biblical text. The Masoretes’ primary work, which lasted from about AD 500 to 900, was to meticulously copying the text and adding vowels so that pronunciation (and in some cases meaning) would be preserved collectively by all Jews throughout the world. The Masoretes did not want to add new letters to the text itself, so they added vowels as “points,” which were combinations of dots and dashes above and below the consonants, and this was done so that the reader would be able to easily tell the difference between the consonants of the original text and the vowel points that had been added. Because of the Masoretes’ reputation for accuracy, “the Masoretic Text”came to prominence and was generally accepted by Jewish readers as the most accurate. The Masoretes also added additional material, including some variant readings and other explanatory notes. This material is called the Masorah.

The Masoretic Text is the primary foundation of most of today’s Bible translations. Although the final version of the Masorah is only about 1,000 years old, it preserves tradition and scholarship that is much older. Since the vowel system was completed in 800 AD, it would be silly to argue over the spelling of YAHSHUA as opposed to YAHOSHUA, when the ‘o’ vowel may not have even been considered until later centuries. YAHSHUA is closely related to Yeshua, a common name in the time of Christ, but the Aramaic name is without the name which is above every name, namely “YAH.” YAH is the name which is above every name. This essential name YAH (I AM) was given to Moses when he asked the Lord for His name (Exodus 3:13-15).

“Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM (HAYAH ASHAR HAYAH).’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM (YAH) has sent me to you.’ Moreover God said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This (YAH) is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations” (Exodus 3:13-15). We appropriately say, “Halleluyah,” which is Hebrew for “Praise YAH.”

The apostle Paul testified that the Messiah has the name (YAH), the very “name which is above every name.” Since the name Jesus has only existed since the 17th century, the apostle Paul never knew nor wrote the name of “Jesus,” and so we must maintain the name originally intended by the apostle Paul. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to write the very revealed name of the Savior originally given from Heaven here in the New Testament: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of YAHSHUA every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that YAHSHUA the Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). Every language, every tongue, is to confess this one revealed name, YAHSHUA, given from God the Father, which is the one and only name by which we must be saved in every language. This revealed name is not to be altered and pronounced in every language the same way by the very name of YAHSHUA.

Hear the testimony of the apostle Paul as given to king Agrippa, as Paul clearly heard the name of the Messiah in Hebrew. Paul, whose name in Hebrew is Saul, said, “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of YAHSHUA of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am YAHSHUA, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me’” (Acts 26:9-18).

This is the testimony of the apostle Peter: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). There is no other name given under heaven but the name of YAHSHUA!

The religious leaders of Jerusalem saw the commotion in the Temple due to a man being healed, and arrested Peter (Cephas) and John, for preaching in the name of YAHSHUA, and about the resurrection from the dead (Acts 4:2). Now Peter filled with the Holy Spirit spoke to them (Acts 4:8). He gave a testimony about the name of the Savior (Acts 4:12). The response of these religious leaders, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with YAHSHUA. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, ‘What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of YAHSHUA. But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’ So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done” (Acts 4:13-21). The apostles never heard of the name of Jesus, again a name not known before the 17th century. They did know of the one name, YAHSHUA, given among men by which we must be saved. The apostles preached in the revealed name of YAHSHUA, not Jesus, or Iesus, or Iesous, or “Hey-zeus.”

The apostle John also testifies to the importance of accepting the name of YAHSHUA as an essential component to our salvation, and he writes, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18).

It is a historic fact, according to historian Ernest Renan that the Savior was never in His lifetime known as “Jesus,” (The Life of Jesus, p. 90). Therefore, behold the name of YAHSHUA, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). In the final analysis, what is this presentation all about? Is it strictly about pronunciation? No. Is it about translation or transliteration? Yes, but not really, for translation of meaning from one language to another is legitimate and needed to communicate the revelations of God, and the reason we, who know English, can understand the Hebrew Scriptures in our own language. Let it be submitted to all, this is about the revelation of God and following His ways not the traditions of men.

The Riddle of Semantics

Semantics can be a powerful tool to cause deception, and abuse the revelation of God, and to establish that which is not of God to seem as if it was meant by God. Consider the uses of semantics as a means of opposition, inclusion and equivalence when seeking to convince another into doing, or believing, things that go against the Sovereignty of God. Satan used a semantic argument against Eve. God’s commandments to Adam and Eve were to “‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion… over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ And God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food...’ Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 1:28-29; 2:15-17). Some time in the future, apparently, Eve was in the vicinity of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil while Adam was tending the garden close by, and the serpent, who happen to be possessed by Satan the devil, speaks to Eve, and said, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:2-6). Satan was able to convince Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit by presenting an argument of semantics, “Arguing semantics” is used when people are arguing about the meaning or definition of words. Likewise, when presenting the truth of the revealed name of the Savior, YAHSHUA, people seeking to hold onto the name they have come to know, a name that has only existed since the 17th century, to relegate the true witness of the Savior’s true name to an argument of semantics.